Page 64 of Lucien

Luc broke the silence first. “Where is Soren?” he asked, voice deceptively mild considering all the growling he’d been doing just two minutes ago. “As I said, it washimI asked for assistance.”

“He declined the journey,” Roman answered gruffly. “He did not want to leave his mate’s side.”

“My brother is still pretty pissed about the whole vicious attack and you ending my life thing,” Danny chimed in. “He said he’d rather rip off your limbs than be in the same room as you.” He shot Jamie a quick, apologetic glance. “I honestly think turning into a vampire has made him a bit of a drama queen.”

Jamie nodded as if he had any idea who any of them were even talking about.

Luc let out a grunt, one that seemed to indicate an understanding of the fairness of all that. “And why come down at all?” he asked, his fingers digging into the couch arm hard enough that Jamie was pretty sure he would leave holes. “This could have been a quick phone call. I only wanted to know how the former humans are doing with their new adjustments.”

Roman’s answering glower—a deeper glower than his standard one—was truly impressive. “Guilty conscience?” he asked, danger lurking in the question.

“Research,” Luc answered coolly.

Jamie’s lip twitched, and he fought to keep a smirk off his face. Because damn, Luc reallycouldbe a dick when he wanted to be. Jamie was kind of into it, to be honest.

“We were, um, a little concerned you’d maybe snapped and just dragged some innocent human into your evil lair, so to speak,” Danny explained. “We felt we needed to assess the situation.”

“My mate has his own guilty conscience for letting you live,” Roman said, shooting his companion a surprisingly tender look.

“Roman,” Danny scolded. “I never said that.”

“They actually said this was part reconnaissance, part rescue mission,” Jay supplied helpfully from where he was now studying Jamie’s bookshelf.

“And what did we say about keeping our mouths shut in mixed company?” Roman snapped. Jay flushed and turned back to the books, and Roman hissed as Danny slapped his arm in admonishment.

Good, Jamie thought smugly. He didn’t know the little guy well, obviously, but he seemed too sweet to be all surly and mean to, just because Roman didn’t like being around his ex-friend (and like, wasn’t Roman the one to blame for that anyway, seeing as how he’d decided to come all the way here?).

“Making friends left and right, aren’t you, Roman?” Luc drawled.

“Yes,” Roman answered without irony. “It is astonishing what friends one can make when one is not a vengeful, psychopathic lunatic.”

Jay turned around again. “Roman tried to strangle me when we first met.”

“Jay, sweetie, let’s go into the kitchen.” Danny held out a hand to the little vampire, looking to Jamie as he did so, so Jamie shrugged and rose from the couch, patting Luc’s shoulder in solidarity before following to the kitchen.

He was a little shocked Luc allowed it. But clearly his vampire didn’t consider Danny and Jay the threats in the room.

Not that Jamie wasn’t fascinated by this cozy reunion going on, but he was also curious about Roman’s mate. Danny had been human less than two years ago. How had he handled the transition? That was what Luc wanted to know, after all. Jamie figured he’d get a better answer from the source than from whatever little dance of grudges was going on behind him.

Danny smiled warmly at him as he entered the kitchen. He certainly seemed calm and collected enough for anyone, let alone a newer vampire. “Ah, that’s better. Now we can get away from all that growly testosterone overload.”

“We can hear you, Daniel,” Luc called out from the living room.

“Like I caaaare,” Danny answered in a singsong voice.

“We can go out to the backyard,” Jamie offered. “Through the back door here.”

They exited the kitchen, Jamie leading the way. Jay started wandering immediately, studying the different desert plants in the yard.

Danny sat down on the back steps, tipping his head back and sighing happily, his eyes closed. “Oh, this is nice. I like the warm nights thing you have going on.”

Jamie took the opportunity to study him surreptitiously. He really was lovely. “Luc said cold and heat don’t really bother you.”

“They don’t, but I can still process the sensations. Coolness and warmth and the like. I find myself enjoying the sun and heat more now that I’ve turned. I enjoy just, like, basking in it. Like a lizard. As long as I protect my eyes, that is.”

Jamie remained standing, his hands firmly in his pockets so he wouldn’t drum them against his leg, watching Danny take in the warmth and feeling unaccountably shy for maybe for the first time in his life. Here was someone who hadexactlywhat he wanted. A permanent bond with the person he loved. A promise of forever.

But it had happened in such a traumatic way. Did Danny regret it?

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